LCBO Food and Drink Winter 2016

BY CYNTHIA DAVID  •  PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROB FIOCCA 5 qUESTIONS WITH…

JULIA GRAHAM, OWNER OF THE QUIRKY CARROT, ALEXANDRIA, ONT., THEQUIRKYCARROT.CA

J ulia Graham is a self-made woman. With no chef’s training, the psychology and gerontology grad ran a catering company with her sister, then taught a wildly successful cooking class in the local high school. The mother of two is now busy introducing the 3,000 residents of Alexandria, halfway between Ottawa and Montreal, to the joys of kale, quinoa and immune-system-boosting juices from the open kitchen of her friendly café, designated a Feast ON restaurant by the Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance.

What dish keeps appearing on your daily menu? Our best seller is the Friday BKT sandwich—bacon, kale and tomato with garlic mayo and Lankaaster aged cheddar from just up the road. How do you survive the culinary winter? We lean in hard to the root veggies in January and play with spices to liven things up. When I can’t bear roasting another parsnip I serve veggies raw, maybe julienne a butter- nut squash for a Thai-inspired salad with spicy red chilies and cilantro. Let’s say you were stuck on a desert island … I’d dream of a kale, arugula and radicchio salad with grated raw beets and carrots, topped with avocado, goat cheese, pumpkin and hemp seeds and dressed with lemon and olive oil. With a little grilled salmon on top.

What’s with the quirky name? When I was teaching, we ran a weekly classroom café called The Staff Caf. I chal- lenged staff and students to come up with a better name and The Quirky Carrot won. The name never stuck, but I loved it and tucked it away for future use. What does your Feast ON designation mean? Feast ON recognizes about 100 restaurants committed to showcasing and celebrating Ontario’s unique flavours. In 2014, these restaurants pur- chased more than $10 million worth of locally produced food and beverages. That’s a lot of carrots! Diners are hungry for Feast ON experiences, with 3,000 visiting the website ( feaston.ontarioculinary.com ) monthly and 25,000 fans engaged across social media.

We lean in hard to the root veggies in January and play with spices to liven things up.

96  FOOD & DRI NK WINTER 2016